NEWFOUNDLAND-Fairgoers at the 96th Annual Greene Dreher Sterling (GDS) Fair had the opportunity to see something different this year when it comes to vendors.

Jantzi Bees & Produce, LLC, owned by Brenda and Loren Jantzi of Greentown, made their first appearance at the GDS Fair, which is also the "first large fair" they've been a vendor at.

"We've been at several smaller craft fairs," said Brenda.

The business is located in Bainbridge, N.Y., which is near Binghamton, N.Y. It's been in business for "about two years."

"My husband and I bought property in New York and there was a lot of open space," Brenda said. "We wanted to do something with it so we decided to try bees. A lot of it was to help the bee population since so many are dying out."

Brenda said to have bees, you need "enough room" to have flowers for the bees to feed. They have 23 hives, with "50,000 to 60,000" bees per hive.

"The bees collect nectar through the warmer months and stay inside the hives throughout the winter," she said. "We collect honey two to three times a year."

Brenda added that their two kids, who are 7 and 9, help out.

"They love it," she said. "The can't wait to get into the hives. They both like to help make the candles and lip balms. Everything we do they enjoy being part of it. We have the full suits and everything. My kids have never even been stung."

Along with honey the Jantzis make candles and lip balm. Brenda said that in the future they want to do honey sauces such as BBQ and mustards.

"We have baked goods and creamed and flavored honey as well as regular honey," Brenda said. "We will hopefully do more gift baskets in the future too."

The goal is to make the business an Internet business so they can sell baskets at holidays. Brenda said she thinks it would be a "good idea."

One of the honeys they make is creamed honey, which is a crystalized honey.

"You keep the honey at certain temperature for five to seven days and very small crystals are formed," Brenda stated. "It's almost the texture of butter. It's pure honey but it's very smooth and creamy tasting honey. A lot of people like to put it on toast or biscuits."

She also said it's a "pretty simple" process to make honey.

"You cut open the comb and spin the honey out," she said. "The only thing we do since it's raw honey, is filter out any wax or other particles so it's just honey in a jar. We make them all natural and don't heat it at all. It's the healthiest stuff you can get on the market."

Page 2 of 2 - Brenda said that raw honey is "much healthier" for you than what you find in the store.

"The downside of getting it in the store is most of it is imported and it's been boiled," she said. "The higher temperature kills a lot of the healthy properties of honey. Raw honey is always better for you. Personally I think it tastes a lot better too."

Brenda also talked about making the candles and lip balms.

"The candles are made from a sheet of beeswax that's been covered and it can also be melted down and you can make form candles," she said. "Different products are used in different ways. There's a little beeswax in the lip balms as well. You have to make sure the wax is pure then mix it with almond oil to help make it softer, if you want flavoring or coloring in it, etc."

She explained hat while they only collect honey a few times a year, there are still other things that need to be done.

"You have to check the hives to make sure the bees are healthy and have enough space," Brenda said. "If the bees don't have enough they will fill all they have with honey, which will give no room for the queen to lay eggs. You have to make sure there are no diseases in the hives and no predators. Mites are a common problem for bees in the U.S. so you have to keep the mite level down too."

She said you should be checking the hives "at least" every couple weeks.

"I enjoy it a lot," Brenda said.

Jantzi Bees & Produce, LLC can be found at 7310 County Highway 20, Bainbridge, N.Y. 13733. They can be reached at (607) 744-6407 or jantzibeesandproduce@gmail.com. Visit their website at www.jantzibeesandproduce.com and you can also find them on Facebook.